Chapter 440: Chapter 439: Aren’t You Afraid These Lost Souls Will Come for Your Life?
"Daddy also had his difficulties."
"It’s a happy occasion that father and daughter are reunited. Hurry and untie me; your behavior is really unacceptable."
As he said this, a hint of moisture appeared in his eyes.
"During these times, I’ve been wandering and destitute, all because of Shen He Wen!"
Shen Hua’s eyes grew colder.
A sense of absurdity arose spontaneously.
She actually did not want to see Shen Wei, let alone listen to his repentance. She never imagined that Shen Wei has never felt he was in the wrong from the very beginning.
Fortunately, Shen Hua had long lost hope in him.
"About the mountain bandits—"
She had barely started when Shen Wei, filled with indignation, interrupted her.
"It was his doing!"
"To think I trusted him so much. Yet he colluded with the mountain bandits to kidnap and harm me. That beast took over my property and conspired with the clan elders to kill me! This resulting in our father-daughter separation."
Shen Hua’s gaze was icy: "I am asking about the harm that befell Mama back then."
Shen Wei instantly fell silent.
It was a familiar sorrow. Shen Wei let out a soft sigh, as if reminiscing.
"Didn’t I already tell you, that day a thick fog arose in the mountains, and the coachman failed to notice, leading to the carriage falling off the cliff."
Shen Hua stared at him for a long time until he became so unnerved by her gaze that he felt uncomfortable.
"You really haven’t changed a bit."
Her smile was mocking.
"Such a deeply affectionate facade is truly nauseating."
She edged behind Xie Xun, manifesting her unwillingness to engage further with him.
Shen Wei was taken aback, feeling a wave of panic rushing towards him, then receding, only to come back again, repeating the cycle, wishing it could just obliterate him.
Xie Xun’s eyes darkened.
"Difficulties?"
He seemed to have heard the biggest joke.
"You didn’t hesitate to poison your own daughter time and time again, terrorizing everyone, just so your late wife would give in and handover the embroidery workshop entirely to you. These are your so-called ’difficulties’."
Xie Xun flung his arm, scattering the teaware on the table, shattering it into pieces on the ground.
He rebuked loudly.
"You watched her become weaker with each passing day. There was even a time she ran a high fever that would not break for a long time. Doctor after doctor was summoned, and she nearly didn’t make it!"
Yangyang deserves to be cherished and held dear, yet all the disasters she faced came from this man in front of us.
For his own selfish desires, he acted righteous while doing worse than an animal.
"After that, she barely clung to life, did you stop? No, for you, she was just a girl, you can always have more, can’t you?"
He dissected: "Your kindness towards her was never out of guilt, but for show, to move others and ultimately yourself."
Having his thoughts exposed, Shen Wei’s complexion changed drastically.
"How is it your place, an outsider, to point fingers and make judgments about my Shen Family’s affairs?"
"Yangyang, how can you believe the instigations of this person?"
But Xie Xun ignored his words.
He stepped closer, bit by bit.
"You and Xue Mouyan never ended your affair."
"How can one forget, three years ago, thirteen ruffians under your command, armed with sharp weapons, in just a short time, a massacre took place in the woods, screams never ceased, with none dying a contented death. What were you doing then? Promising Xue Mouyan that soon enough you would marry her."
"From the start it was a calculated move, you married Chun Yun, coaxing her into helping you with the embroidery workshop. Once the workshop got on track, you plotted to completely get rid of her."
There’s no such good deal in this world!
"Old Master Shen, when you wake in the middle of the night, aren’t you afraid these lost souls will come seeking revenge?"
Shen Wei stumbled backwards, terrified by Xie Xun’s unrelenting words, eventually falling to the ground.
He was at his most wretched.
Where was the ease and skill he had in front of others, playing everyone like a game?
As his downfall became evident, Shen Wei’s flame of resentment spread like a wildfire.
He cried out.
"What else could I have done?"
"I tried to persuade her with kind and harsh words to stay at home, but she would not listen, only caring about showing herself off! People outside are laughing at me for living off a woman. Do you know how embarrassed I am, unable to lift my head in shame!"
At last, the truth was spoken.
But not a single word was welcomed by the siblings.
Shen Wei gritted his teeth in anger: "How was I supposed to know that Xue Mouyan and Shen He Wen had been conspiring together all along!"
Chun Yun was indeed beautiful, and for a while after their marriage, he was obsessed with her, but how could he resist Xue Mouyan’s tender words and sweet nothings?
Wench!
Xue Mouyan was nowhere worthy of him.
Xie Xun stamped on Shen Wei’s hand and ground it forcefully against the floor.
"She has been dead for so short a time, and you’ve already remarried?"
With fingers connected to the heart, the pain was unbearable for Shen Wei. Yet, he was pinned down by a group of men in black, rendering him unable to move, leaving him to be humiliated like this.
"You and Shen He Wen, the clan elders, played a drama in front of Yangyang, telling the twelve-year-old girl that Mama and brother died while seeking medical treatment for her, that it was her fault!"
Xie Xun had lost interest in wasting words with Shen Wei, but there was one point he had to care about.
The girl was too delicate.
How could she bear it?
She began to blame herself, to become despondent and reclusive.
If it weren’t for Aunt Sun, Shen Hua would have been ruined long ago!
The medicine she has taken over the years - wasn’t it too much?
The more she took, the thinner she became.
Xie Xun still remembered, the girl once threw herself into his arms, choking back sobs.
——Brother, Yangyang can’t eat, I always vomit when I do. Am I going to die soon?
——It’s pitch-dark inside the coffin, after being buried, the body will rot and stink, I’m still a little scared.
But upon noticing his change, the little girl sensibly closed her mouth.
——Don’t cry, Yangyang won’t mention it anymore.
At that time, he was there. So was Shen Wei.
Shen Wei had said nothing the whole time, just turning his back to them, wiping away tears with his sleeve.
How ironic it was.
"Shen Wei, if you had cared for her even the slightest, why would she have suffered those torments!"
Shen Wei raised his voice, drowning out Xie Xun’s voice as if only in this way could he maintain his sense of entitlement.
"Later, I gradually reduced the medicine she took. But her body failed her, and she never recovered."
"I lost my Brother Zhi, whose talent was praised by the teacher as one who could become a scholar, destined to bring honor to the ancestors. Later, I had only her as my daughter, why would I wish for her death?"
As he spoke, he couldn’t help but look again towards Shen Hua, who kept her lips tightly sealed without uttering a word.
"Just like now, her only relative is also me."
"Yangyang, I know about the exhibition event. The one in question is gone; why dwell on the past? At least I did truly love you once. Didn’t I?"
"Why don’t we let bygones be bygones?"
"Now, the Shen Family has been taken over, and Daddy is alone and powerless, while the people from the second branch still won’t let me go. The gentleman by your side seems to have a significant status, if he is willing to help—"
Xie Xun interrupts.
"Do you understand that a life is to be paid for with a life?"
"You dogs, you will all pay the price."
"It’s just that Yangyang and I, we do not wish to dirty our hands."
He slightly moved his lips towards a person hidden behind a screen inside the room.
"Magistrate Wang."
"Have you heard everything clearly?"
Soon,
The gleaming signboard of Shen’s Embroidery Workshop was smashed down.
Fengzhou City was bustling once again, but this time all the crowds gathered outside the government office.
"Shen Wei is still alive, but has been imprisoned. With such a ruthless and cold heart, yet he still acted so loving and affectionate. On his late wife’s memorial day, he even took that woman he remarried to burn incense. It’s uncertain how the Lord Prefect will judge the crime."